Unravelled
by Anne Nonymus
Summary: The worst kind of evil is the darkness that you don't see coming. It wears a kind smile, a mask of innocence, it weaves its way into the tapestry of your life, insidiously breaking down each thread within it, each tie that you once held dear. Storybrooke is under attack once again, but how do you defend against a villain when you don't know who it is? Sequel to Indestructible.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I intended to finish some of my other WIP, but the Captain Swan from the Indestructible 'verse wouldn't leave me be. Here's a bit of a prologue/teaser.**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah, if you believe that I could own any part of Once Upon a time or any of its characters, you have more screws loose than I do. Nope, nuh-uh. It's owned by Ed Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and the ABC network.**

 **Prologue: By The Pricking of My Thumbs**

As the citizens of Storybrooke slumbered peacefully in their beds, they were blissfully unaware of what danger has made its way to their momentarily peaceful town.

Thick, angry, hulking clouds begin to form and gather above the town. They swirl slowly, as if being stirred by an unseen force, gathering speed, spinning faster and faster, spiralling manically, twisting and turning, narrowing into an angry column of cloud until it's suddenly hurled to the ground, piercing the grass just inside the town line. Almost as soon as contact with the earth is made, the clouds dissipate like a dream when the sleeper awakens. In the wake of the clouds departure remains a viridescent mist that seemed malevolently alive.

The mist slinks low to the ground, furling and unfurling on itself, creeping steadily towards the centre of the town, taking everything of note, greedily drinking in every detail of its surroundings.

It searched the streets and buildings, slinking along the shadows, until it found what it was looking for. Once it does , the mist starts to circle, travelling upwards, beginning to solidify and form a cloaked human figure.

A female figure.

She lightly touches an emerald pendant dangling from a fragile golden chain on her neck, triggering a ripple of magic from her head to her feet. In an instant, her skin takes on a distorted alabaster glow, disguising the truth of who she is.

"This…is what Regina does with the dark curse?" she murmurs with an unimpressed lilt. "All of that potential just…wasted. But then again, what else can be expected of someone with such a dull imagination? One would think her mentor was Norman Rockwell not Rumplestiltskin."

With a bored wave of her hand, the viridescent mist reappears, this time spreading outward from her, slinking along the streets, climbing the buildings, altering everything that it touches.

"There we are," she murmurs with an amused giggle as she appraises her work. "Much, _much_ better. I think that the touch of nostalgia will be appreciated by everyone."

She looks up to see another funnel cloud form over the forest on the outskirts of the town, smiling as it touches down somewhere over the trees, a faint boom that could be mistaken for thunder rumbling in the distance.

"Ah, my guests have arrived." She grins wickedly. With another wave of her hand she's engulfed in a cloud of coloured smoke and reappears at a small farmhouse just inside the town line. Its cozy and rustic, two things she abhors, but it will have to do for the moment since it fits in well with her plans. Patience, she counsels herself. Soon she will be able to live in accommodations that befit her, wear clothes that aren't dowdy and prudish, and she will have the life that she should have had all along, packaged neatly with her revenge.

She walks over to a nearby mirror, inspecting her flawless disguise. She intends to reveal herself - eventually. First, she intends to stir up some mischief, wreak a little havoc, and of course cause some mayhem. This dull little town won't know what hit it.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she cackled.

She suddenly notices a darkened shadow pooling at the corner of her eye and feels her blood run cold.

"Master, you're here!" she sputters, wiling herself to remain on her feet.

"I am here in spirit, my child," the shadow hissed. "Are you enjoying the magics I've bestowed upon you?"

"Yes Master," she beamed happily. "I'm ever so grateful for-"

"Your gratitude is not what I seek," the shadow growled. "While you pose and preen at this new facade of yours, I remain trapped, much of my powers bound by my wardens. I gave you magics for reasons other than your vanity. You swore fealty to me, vowed that you would be the one to free me. You would do well not to forget, my eyes are ever on you-"

"Worry not master," she breathes, smiling widely and hoping to project confidence and ease, knowing that anything less than absolute and total victory will not be tolerated. "I know what you have sent me here for, and I swear I will not fail you. But these things do take time, and I do beg for your patience. Regina and the Saviour are here and working together along with the other heroes. I must take care and ensure that I am not discovered before everything is ready for you."

"Very well," the shadow huffed. "Do what must be done."

"I shall Master!" She vowed emphatically. "For you I will tear this town apart slowly. Piece by piece, bit by bit I shall turn everything and everyone inside out. All that these people have come to know, have come to count on will be unravelled before their ignorant eyes, and they will cry out your name in fear."

"I will give you time as you requested, though not much," the shadow warned. "And because I am a benevolent god, I will remind you of the consequences of your failure."

She didn't have time to let out a shriek of pain before her breath was ripped from her. Wave after wave of indescribable pain crested over her relentlessly as she felt herself melting, pooling onto the hardwood floor, until suddenly it stopped.

"Please Master," she gasped shakily, unable to pick herself up off the ground. "Please, no more. I won't fail you. I swear that I will free you to claim this realm and all of the other realms for your glory. They will fall to their knees for you, or fall to their deaths."


	2. The Ever Prepared Justin Case

**A/N: Since it took me so bloody long to post this, I won't bother with excuses as to why I haven't updated in the longest time. Without further adieu, here's the**

 **Disclaimer: It would be a torturously long hiatus - even worse than the wait until season 5b that we actually have to wait for if I owned OUAT. Instead, Once Upon a Time and it's characters belong to Ed Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, and ABC Network. Notice the lack of my name in that list?**

 **The Ever Prepared Justin Case**

He stood on the deck of his ship, holding his beloved soulmate against the mast, their bodies pressed together, sweat dripping down their bodies, and despite his exhaustion he couldn't be happier. Even while he was trying desperately to catch his breath, his legs and arms felt as though they were barely attached to him, he couldn't help but take the opportunity to appreciate this quiet moment with the woman who was everything to him. Gently, Killian pressed a loving kiss against her forehead, and heard her say something that made him groan - and not in a good way.

"Again…" she panted breathily against his lips. "Come on Killian, one more time."

"That's what you said the last time," he reminded her with a laugh of disbelief. "And the time before that, and before that…and we've been practicing our swordplay for hours."

"You didn't seem to complain about our _swordplay_ last night, or this morning Captain." she purred, but Killian knew from the thread of tension thrumming from her magic and onto his, that her seductive tone was more about distracting him than anything else. Despite how he loved it when she called him Captain, he was bound and determined to focus on _her_ needs and not _his_ wants.

"Yes, well that was swordplay of a _very_ different nature. One that involved less swords, more play and far less clothing. And for the record you'll never hear me complain of any activities we engage in whilst in our bedchambers, or in our living room, or in our bathroom, or in our kitchen…." Killian couldn't help but remind her how they took advantage of Henry's overnight stay with Neal, as he sheathed his weapon and wrapped his arm around her.

"If you truly wish for another round of practice with your cutlass, I'll not deny you. However, I must ask - don't you think you might be carrying this a little too far?"

"Are you saying that you can't handle it?" Emma giggled playfully, though she couldn't disguise the nervous tension in her eyes. "Next thing you'll be saying is that you're too old for this."

"The day I'm too old for this is the day they return me to the sea for a sailor's burial," he teased, though he knew immediately his Swan didn't find his words reassuring.

"Don't even joke about that," she hissed, pushing him away roughly, dropping her sword and stepping away from him. "Never, _ever_ joke about you….about that!"

"Oh love," he sighed, pulling her towards him, his frustration with her giving way to concern. "I'm a survivor, you know that. And now that I have you and Henry in my life, I have even more reason to fight for my survival. I won't give up this life, _our_ life without a battle."

"I know," she muttered, enveloping him in her embrace. "I'm sorry for being so crazy lately with all of the training and everything. I just can't help it…."

He quieted her fears for the moment with a tender kiss, knowing the mantle of Saviour wore heavy on her slender shoulders. Even with the rare peacefulness that the town was currently enjoying, Emma seemed to push herself harder than ever before with her training. When she wasn't working at the station with David, she and Killian were working on her sword fighting. When she wasn't with Killian, she was with Regina practicing her magic. When she wasn't with Regina, Killian, or David, she was with Mary Margaret learning how to use a bow and Arrow because "you never know when long range shooting skills might come in handy".

She tried her best to make time with Henry, but even then, she ended up squeezing time in with his riding lessons or sword fighting lessons, or his sailing lessons. At least when the three of them were out on the water, the sails full and billowing above them, the spray of the salt water cooling their skins, she seemed to relax a little. Those were some of the rare times that she didn't seem to be overburdened by her duties or training. And in the evenings when they were in the privacy of their room expressing their love to each other intimately, it fortified their soulmate bond and gave Emma the strength she needed to persevere.

Killian was glad that he could give her his strength and was able to help her find calm, even if for only a moment. What he found disconcerting was that there was something she was hiding from him, something that she kept hidden so that not even their soulmate bond would reveal it. He didn't know what could have happened, but he knew when.

After the incident with George and his attempt to murder both Emma and Killian, they managed to enjoy their lives together for 3 blissful weeks. In that time he, Emma and Henry stumbled upon a magical victorian home just a stones throw from the docks, Mary Margaret and David announced that they were pregnant with their second child, Neal and Tink finally admitted that they were in a serious relationship, while Henry fell in love with an orphaned husky puppy. He named her Jolly.

Things were going so well. Killian, Emma were preparing to buy their first home together, Henry couldn't tell if he was more excited about Jolly, getting to pick out stuff for his new room at the new house, the happiness of both of his biological parents, or the birth of his uncle or aunt. He even mentioned something about practicing for when he has a baby brother or sister. The lad was also working on a plan for Regina's happy ending and was doing research on how to help her find it. Everyone they cared about appeared to be relatively happy and enjoying their lives. Then one morning, Emma woke up from a nightmare so terrifying, it took Killian an interminable length of time to calm her down, the terror in her eyes and the way she sobbed in his arms made his heart ache for her.

Once she had settled though, there was a steel in her eyes that he knew quite well, and he knew that the peace they enjoyed was ended. Since then, Emma cancelled the deal to buy the house, stating that it was too far away from her parents "in case something happened." Instead of the house they had already begun to refer to as home, they moved into one of the empty apartments in the Charming's building. Even though Killian and Henry were a little disappointed, David and Mary Margaret were overjoyed that their daughter was only two floors down from them. It had two bedrooms - actual bedrooms not the loft style her parents had, one bathroom and barely enough room for the three of them and a pup. Killian and Henry could sense that something was going on with Emma, so they didn't complain. They moved in shortly after Emma signed the 6 month lease, referring to the place as "the apartment". It wasn't home and they hoped whatever had caused Emma to change her mind was something that they could work through by the time the lease was up.

Then Emma started to make a schedule for training and work. When they saw what Emma had written on the calendar that was stuck with magnets to the fridge, Killian and Henry looked at each other with raised eyebrows, and then to Emma who had woken up before the both of them to go for a jog before breakfast.

"What?" she had murmured, fixing them all a plate of egg whites and sliced fruit. "It wouldn't hurt to get ourselves organized and stop eating junk and sugar. We should start taking care of our health. You know, just in case."

"Just in case" seemed to have become Emma's mantra as she drove herself hard, focusing on her various training sessions with an intensity that caused her family concern. All attempts to discuss it with Emma have been met with irritation on her part. She would huffily tell them that she was just taking her role of saviour seriously, and go off to train some more. A month of this devotion to learning her magic, how to wield a sword, and how to effectively use a bow and arrow had resulted had raised her expertise in all three forms of battle exponentially. Regina claimed that she had nothing more to teach her, she had bested Killian a number of times and he was having difficulty keeping up, while Mary Margaret beamed that her daughter was even better than her at hitting the bullseye. The problem was that her loved ones could see the toll that the training was taking on Emma, as well as whatever secret that she was keeping.

"Emma love, why don't we cancel today's magic session with Regina," he suggested, sighing when he felt her stiffen in his arms. "Just one day. We can take Henry sailing, have dinner on the deck, give Henry another lesson in navigating by starlight, what do you say?"

"Killian, I can't," she replied in a pained voice, pulling away from his arms. "I have a schedule to keep."

"You can take an evening off," Killian reassured her. "Come on Swan, you've been working far too hard. The town is peaceful for now, let's enjoy it."

"For now is the key word," she reminded him. "Any minute now, we could have any number of villainous asshats crawling into town to create havoc. I want to be ready just in-"

"Case, right," Killian finished the sentence for her. "Love, I appreciate that you want to be prepared for whatever situation could arise, however, don't you think that we should also enjoy these quiet moments, the calm before the storm, or else how can we truly appreciate all that we're fighting for?"

"Aw crap," she muttered after picking up her cell phone from the familiar red leather jacket that she left on a nearby crate. "I'm gonna be late for Regina's training session. Man, she's totally going roast my ass. Literally."

"I take it I'm to pick up Henry from Neal's place?" he sighed resignedly. It was going to take some convincing, or else some detective work to find out what was truly bothering his love.

"Please?" she smiled at him, donning her jacket and preparing to leave for another set of training. "I should be back at the apartment for dinner. The three of us can enjoy some quiet time then."

"I shall hold you to that love," he replied, giving her an exasperated smile, and a quick peck to her lips. "Alright, off with you then. I'm rather fond of your ass and would prefer not to give Regina further excuses to roast it."

"See you later, _Love_." she grinned, completely botching what might have been an imitation of his accent before poofing off in a cloud of white smoke.

With a sigh, Killian put on his own leather jacket. It was a gift from Emma and Henry, and though it was shorter, and felt lighter than the leather duster he was accustomed to - he loved it none the less. He was still dashingly handsome with it on, and it was given to him by the people he loved most in the world. He strolled down the gangway and down the pier towards town. Killian found himself enjoying the sunlight as he walked towards the library, where Neal had been given Belle's apartment after she had moved in with Gold. Killian nodded to the various residents that he passed as he made his way to pick up Henry, greeting them as they greeted him. It felt nice to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance within the town, not just as Emma's companion, but as someone who worked to help keep the town and its people safe.

When he got to the entrance to Neal's apartment just past the main doors to the library, Killian used his talking phone to let Neal know he was there to pick up Henry.

"Oh hey Killian," Neal answered jovially. "Sorry, I kinda lost track of time. Could I just drop him off at your place? We're at my dad's place right now. I just thought we'd dust things off and clean things up since he and Belle are supposed to be back from their trip today."

"They've been gone for quite a while haven't they?" Killian mused, not entirely pleased with the idea of having to deal with the Crocodile's presence in the town after the relative quiet that they've ben experiencing. He thought it was quite bizarre that Gold and Belle had decided to suddenly leave for the cabin in the woods for an impromptu vacation, but then he supposed he was biased when it came to the dark one. Gold told his son that since there was no immediate threat to the town, he wanted to take the opportunity to have a romantic vacation with his lady love, even if the furthest they could go was the outskirts of town. Neal thought that his father was planning to propose to Belle, and everyone thought that making a commitment to the good hearted librarian meant that the dark one was prepared to leave behind his evil ways.

"It's been a couple of months," Neal agreed. "I got a call from him this morning that they're planning to come back tonight. He said the vacation went well, and that she accepted his proposal."

"Congratulations are in order I suppose," Killian muttered. "How are you doing with this news mate?"

"It's been a long time since everything with mom happened," Neal replied. "And honestly, she would have wanted us to move on ages ago. I just want to be happy, and I want all of us to be happy too. Belle makes dad happy, and she keeps him in line. Just like Emma does for you."

"Touché mate," Killian chuckled. "Alright, I'll head over to the apartment and meet you there."

"See you in a few." Neal replied before hanging up.

Killian pressed the little red button on his talking phone and walked briskly towards the apartment building where his family resided. A smile curled up at the corner of his lips at the thought of having a family. For so long, him having and being a part of a family was more than an impossibility, it was a distantly laughable dream. And now, he was part of a bizarre, famous, noble, heroic unit of people who would always fight for each other.

It didn't take long for him to reach the apartment he shared with Emma and Henry. He had just put his leather jacket on its allotted spot on the coat hanger by the door, when he heard Henry unlocking the door. Henry was accompanied by both Neal and Tink, who appeared to be absolutely besotted with each other. He teased them until they pointed out that he and Emma were just as bad, if not worse. Killian tried to protest, until Henry agreed with them.

"Traitor." Killian muttered, trying to suppress a smile.

"Why do you think I yell and make so much noise when I'm here?" snickered Henry. "I figure that if you can hear me coming, it lessens the chances of being scarred for life by walking in on my parents doing something I _don't_ want to think about."

"Don't you have some homework to do?" Killian asked Henry, clearing his throat to rid it of the lump that was forming there. He looked towards Neal to see if he was bothered by Henry referring to Killian as one of his parents. Instead of looking even slightly perturbed at the thought, Neal appeared to be rather amused by it.

"Just some math…" Henry muttered, rolling his eyes at the thought of his most hated subject.

"You'd better get to it then bud," Neal smirked, ruffling his hair. "At least you have your other dad here to help you with that stuff. I'm terrible at math. Even Killian couldn't help me with navigational equations. I once tried to chart a course to the other side of Neverland. If the crew followed my instructions, we would have run aground."

"Really?" Henry's curious eyes widened. "Were you guys already at sail when you realized it? Did you get to take the helm-"

"Nice try at stalling lad," Killian cut him off and steering him by the shoulders towards his room. "Homework, now. I'll be along in a moment to help you with whichever equations you need assistance with. And then you can help me make dinner for your mum. We'll have macaroni and cheese."

"Awesome!" Henry cheered before skipping off to his room.

Killian made his way back to the front door, where Neal and Tink still waited for him.

"About what Henry said…." he began awkwardly, scratching behind his ear.

"Don't worry, I won't take offence at you not inviting us for a mac and cheese dinner," Neal said with a wry grin. "I may pout for a few days, but I doubt it'll go further than that. Unless you make your stuffed hen for dinner and decide not to invite us. Then I'll be upset."

"Don't listen to him," Tink laughed, elbowing Neal in the gut playfully. "He knows that whenever he has a craving for chicken he can go to Granny's."

"As for the other thing Henry said, you are practically his stepdad," Neal reassured him. "You and Emma are true loves, and you're great with Henry. I'm glad you're there for him the way you were there for me, you know, before we let our stubbornness get in between us. He knows you would move heaven and earth to make him and Emma happy, and that you two'll probably get married and have more kids. You are planning to propose soon, aren't you?"

"Aye, if I could get her to take a break from her training long enough to get down on one knee and ask," Killian grumbled, his thoughts returning to a precious piece of jewelry that seemed to be calling out to him constantly from the back of his closet. "She's just been so determined, rededicating herself to her role as the saviour that the only time she allows herself rest is on four occasions; dinner with Henry and I, when we have dinner with her parents, during sailing lessons with Henry, or when she sleeps. And even then her sleep is too short."

"She's just become used to the constant threat looming over the town," Tink reminded him. "The peace and quiet over the town is likely making her nervous. Just talk to her, _make_ her make time for the most important question of her life. Don't wait, because before you know it, there will be another threat to Storybrooke, and you really will be too busy battling the latest villain to make time for a romantic moment."

Little did Killian know how right Tinkerbelle was, or how soon her words would come to pass.


	3. We're Gonna Need a Bigger Umbrella

**A/N: Again, sorry for the delay in posting. At least I made it before the hiatus ended.**

 **Thank you to all those who continue to read, review, and favourite this story of mine. You are the bestest of the best.**

 **Disclaimer: No, in case you actually have to ask I Do Not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters. I just like to play pretend. It's actually owned by Kitsis/Horowitz and ABC Network.**

 **We're Gonna Need a Bigger Umbrella**

Emma was exhausted as she poofed herself to Regina's place. With slumped shoulders, she trudged her way up the steps of Regina's colonial manor, knowing she was late as it was. When she got to Regina's door, the former evil queen yanked it open viciously with an irritated sneer on her face.

"You're late." she barked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sorry Regina," Emma sighed, gritting her teeth and wishing that Regina would just give her a little bit of a break. Then again, she didn't need coddling, she needed to be battle ready.

"Lost track of time with sword practice. Can we please just…just get to magic lessons? Please?"

Regina paused, taking note of the heaviness in Emma's movements, the weariness in the set of her shoulders, the sigh in her breath, the exhaustion she tried to hide.

"Miss Swan, what are you really doing here?" she asked pointedly.

"I'm here to get magic lessons." Emma replied curtly. "You know this already Regina. I was late to my lesson, remember?"

"Miss Swan, unless there's something specific that you want to know how to do, I have nothing left to teach you," Regina huffed, trying to reign in her temper. "Go home Sheriff. You've already spent more time training in Swordplay, Magic, Archery and who knows what else, than is required to haul Grumpy and his little brothers home after Tequila Thursdays at the Rabbit Hole. And since you've defeated George and successfully quashed his attempts to take over the town, the dwarves and their drunken exploits are about as worrisome as it gets here. Enjoy it while it lasts, because you know how this town can get. Peace never lasts for very long."

"So what, I'm supposed to twiddle my thumbs until the next villain comes along?" Emma growled, digging crescents into the palms of her hands and trying to calm herself down. "Wait until we start getting attacked before I do anything about it? Wait until people start going missing, or people start going at each other's throats and all the shields and safe rooms that we built, we find out that they're no longer safe anymore, huh? Am I supposed to just blissfully enjoy the quiet and wait for flying monkeys to swoop in to pick us off one by one? Maybe I should pretend that the next power hungry or revenge driven asshole isn't just right around the corner waiting to take everyone by surprise? Hell no, I'm the goddamn saviour and it's my job to keep this town and everyone in it safe."

"Okay…..what the hell was that about?" Regina replied calmly, her shrewd eyes narrowing its gaze at Emma. "That diatribe you spewed at me was a little to specific for you to tell me that you're training _just in case_ we are under attack. You know something…something that is on it's way here to Storybrooke, don't you?"

Emma seemed to deflate before Regina's eyes, becoming nervous and skittish for the first time since the mayor has made her acquaintance. Whatever Emma was keeping from her, from her family and her pirate, it was bad.

"Emma, I can't help you if you don't tell me what is going on." Regina sighed, for the first time considering what it was like to have the pressures of being the saviour fall on Emma's shoulders. "If you just tell me, maybe we can tailor your training to whatever we're going to be facing. Or we can have Belle do some research on how to-"

"It's nothing!" Emma piped up, cutting Regina off quickly, an almost pleading expression on her face not to say anything more. "I just want to be prepared. In fact, could we go over how to use magic to transport from place to place again? You know how bad I am at that."

Regina thought it was rather strange of Emma to suggest, especially since she had already mastered teleportation. Emma has also shown that she's a natural at directing her magic, using it as a weapon and to heal injuries. She learned how to use a glamour on herself and others. Emma quickly learned how to build magical shields, protect buildings, people, and enchant objects. Even Regina couldn't break through Emma's white magic shield. It's why she couldn't understand why Emma insisted on continuing her lessons in Magic with Regina.

She raised an eyebrow at Emma, but nodded. With a flick of Emma's wrist, they were wrapped in the white smoke of her magic and was transported to Regina's vault.

"Interesting choice in location." Regina remarked when the white smoke disappeared and she noted the familiar surroundings.

"So this is your vault huh?" Emma muttered, looking around curiously. "Thought it would have been more secure."

With a wave of Regina's hand, a secret door was revealed. The once evil queen gave Emma a haughty "I haven't taught you all my secrets" look before opening the door. Regina stood to the side, allowing Emma to enter into the inner chamber before following her in and closing the door behind her. She let Emma take in the massive stone walls, the potions and boxes stored in the alcoves, the ancient books that lay beside them on the shelves before her lack of patience got the better of her.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on or what?" Regina growled, noting how Emma stiffened, but refused to turn and face her. "Is Henry in danger? At least tell me that!"

Rather than answer her, Emma waved her hand towards the large mirror in the room and within a blink of an eye the mirror, candles and any reflective surface was gone from the room.

"Hey!" Regina snapped indignantly.

"I'll put them back as soon as we're done talking," Emma replied, taking a seat on the stone floor. "I had to make sure that there was nothing that could be listening in on this conversation."

"You picked the right place," sighed Regina, leaning against a stone wall. "And now that you've removed any form of magical communication within the room, are you going to explain what's happened?"

"Are you sure that this place is secure? Are you 100%, absolutely positive?" Emma asked, and Regina would have lost her temper if not for the desperate look in Emma's eyes. It was obvious that Emma wanted to tell someone the secret she'd been forced to keep, but was afraid to let it out for some reason.

"My vault is completely impenetrable," Regina replied. "I've created all of the charms and protection spells on it myself. If someone can get through them and spy on us, then _nowhere_ in _any_ realm will be safe."

"That's what I'm worried about." Emma muttered to herself. She closed her eyes and tried desperately to keep it together. The risks of revealing what she knew were great, but at the same time, this was too big of a burden to keep to herself. She knew she wasn't up to a "don't worry, everything will be alright" sunshine and rainbows speech that her parents would give if she told them. And if she explained things to Killian, he would go and jump headfirst into danger to protect her and Henry. Henry was just too young to know about any of this and she wanted to protect him as much as she was able. There was no way that she could trust Gold; he may have helped her with her concussion, but then he turned around and magicked Killian into taking her injuries, and she could have inadvertently brought about the death of her soul mate. She needed help to keep her loved ones safe. There was only one person she could turn to for help.

Just as Regina was going to issue an ultimatum (one that was likely to end it in 'or I'll make you tell me'), Emma took a moment to consider where to start when she began talking.

"About a month ago, I had a dream-"

"All this paranoia started with a dream?" Regina scoffed.

"Will you just shut up and listen?!" Emma yelled, and Regina would have yelled back and let loose a fireball, but Emma continued to speak. "This isn't _just any dream_. Morpheus was there."

"Morpheus? _The_ Morpheus?" Regina muttered, taken aback by this information and feeling oddly unsettled. The Dream God was known to have appeared in the repose of heroes, bestowing them with visions of terrible times that were on the horizon along with helpful advice - so long as you can unravel his cryptic words. Of course, the god hadn't been seen in centuries, so for him to appear to the Saviour….."

"Yeah Morpheus," Emma repeated as though part of her still had trouble believing that as well. "Big guy, wears a floor length grey velvet hooded robe with weird patterns on it. Hides his face in shadows, likes to hang out in a cave surrounded by poppies and flood people's dreams with images and scenes of everyone you love brutally and viciously ripped away from you. The only way to stop the shit storm of hell is to solve these fucking insane riddles he throws at you instead of being helpful and just telling you in plain english. He then snaps his fingers to wake you up, leaving you confused, scared shitless and with a migraine that feels like your head is going to implode when you open your eyes. _That_ Morpheus."

"Okay, so you had a bad dream and Morpheus was there," Regina acquiesced, curious to see what kind of nightmare was bestowed upon the saviour. It had to have been bad for her to have reacted this way. "Tell me about the dream."

"I've been doing some of my own magic research, and there's something I want to try - if it's okay with you." Emma hedged, standing up and approaching Regina cautiously. "It would be easier than trying to find the words and trying to explain everything. Trust me?"

"Alright," said Regina tentatively after a few moments, tensing slightly when one of Emma's hands drifted to her chest, and the other to the side of her head.

"I really hope that you're doing a thought transference spell and not getting fresh with me." Regina muttered, trying her best to stay still as Emma's right hand hovered over her heart and her left hand settled gently against the side of her head, her thumb pressing lightly against Regina's temple.

"Actually, thought it might be fun to turn you into a toad," smirked Emma, trying to ease some of the tension as she took a breath and started to concentrate on the spell.

According to the book on magic spells Belle lent to her months ago (which she will return….eventually…if Storybrooke is still standing after all this) thought transference spells work best when there is an emotional connection between the person sending the thought and the one receiving it. Thanks to their soul mate bond, thought transference with Killian was so easy that it was harder to keep her thoughts from him than it was to share them. With Henry, it was pretty much the same. All it took was a grin from him, a raspy cackle that reminded her of Neal's laugh, or a raised eyebrow that he learned from Killian to tell her he knew what she was thinking. With Mary Margaret and David, as much as she loved her parents, it was still a little more difficult to accept the love she had for them and they for her; she's spent too long being alone, too long being an orphan. She sometimes had trouble saying how much they mean to her, and instead of having a thought in her head that they can read, she has to make physical contact and push the thought over to them. She was always rewarded with a beaming grin from either one or both of her parents.

Regina? Well, most of the time they were able to be civil to one another for Henry's sake. They were warming up - very slowly - towards pleasant. A few times, there were moments they shared that could be called friendly, as long as you were a happy drunk and observed the moments after drinking your weight in hard liquor. Suffice it to say, transferring her thoughts to Regina was going to take some work. At least, they have a connection through Henry, and that was what she counted on.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, some scathing quip on Regina's tongue just waiting to be unleashed when Emma felt her light magic drift towards Regina. It fluttered over her briefly before settling itself on her. She allowed her thoughts to open up, to see the things she had been holding on to for so long burst forth, playing the scenes in both Emma and Regina's minds. When she got to the last image, Emma held back a whimper as she withdrew her hands from Regina. Regina stumbled back slightly, backing herself up against a stone wall, her face pale as she struggled for composure.

"So…." Emma sighed, feeling slightly relieved to be able to share her burden with someone and feeling a glimmer of hope that she could have help with what's to come.

"Who the hell is the wicked one?" sputtered Regina, still slightly shaking. "And Phoebetor? And who was the man with the Lion Tattoo?"


End file.
